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Sometimes London theatre news is truly momentous and surprising and sometimes it’s simply relaying something you could have guessed anyway, and this news falls fairly squarely into the latter category.
The RSC’s Game of Thrones prequel The Mad King – written by Duncan MacMillan – debuted in Stratford-upon-Avon last month and scored generally strong reviews. And if you were expecting a London transfer to follow you’d be absolutely correct: it has today been announced that it’s coming to London in 2027.
Helpfully we know absolutely nothing more than that: no date (beyond 2027), no venue, and no casting details. Given we already knew the show existed and was liable to be heading to London, you sort of wonder why they couldn’t just hold off until they had something more for us, but hey ho.
To speculate some more: the fully George RR Martin-endorsed show is likely to need a big theatre, which are generally in short supply in London. The Gillian Lynne Theatre – aka the current home of the RSC’s My Neighbour Totoro – is a decent shout, but it is staging that weird-looking Traitors play all summer. The Mad King could replace it in the autumn but one would assume the idea is to extend its run. The hulking Prince Edward Theatre has just become free from January as Beetlejuice has curtailed its run by four months. But Miss Saigon is moving there in June: considering the popularity of Game of Thrones it would be surprising if The Mad King was restricted to a limited run. Also it’s worth pointing out that the play’s director Dominic Cooke is taking over at the Almeida in Islington at the start of 2027: it would seem to be quite bad for for him to immediately bugger off to work on an RSC show.
All will no doubt be revealed: to be the first the first to hear actual news on The Mad King’s London run, sign up for updates here.
Check out the best new London theatre shows to book for in 2026.
And what the hell is going on with the Barbican’s Sunday in the Park with George?
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